


Apocalyptic

by OfEndlessWonder



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 12:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7685188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfEndlessWonder/pseuds/OfEndlessWonder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Entry for Supercat Week, Day Six - Post-Apocalyptic AU. Set within the universe of the Walking Dead. It's been eight months since the dead started to rise, and the world went to hell. Cat stumbles upon a mysterious blonde whilst looking for shelter and decides that maybe there is some hope left in the world, after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Apocalyptic

Cat almost sighs with relief when they stumble upon a village after five endless days of walking after their previous camp had been overrun by the undead.

There had been eleven of them – Cat has no idea if anyone else had made it out alive.

She’d been too preoccupied with getting her son out of there and into safety.

He was only fourteen years old, but already he had been witness to so many things that she wished with all her heart that he had never seen. So much pain, so much loss, so much anger and violence, so much death and decay.

It is so far away from the life she had wanted for him.

But when the dead had started to walk, that life – her life, _everyone’s_ life – had gone up in smoke.

From her rough estimations, she guesses that about eight months have passed since the outbreak began.

Cat has no idea how she’s managed to survive that long.

She’s not particularly strong, and she has no particular skills. She’d run a media corporation, for Christ sake – that didn’t exactly prepare a woman for the end of the world.

But she’s gotten them this far, somehow. And she doesn’t intend to stop anytime soon.

She isn’t entirely sure where they’re going, just that they need to keep moving if they want to survive. National City had been their home, but cities were the worst areas affected, quickly overrun by walkers, or the living who were sometimes even worse than the dead, vying for control.

The country isn’t much better.

Resources are scarce out here, and after their camp had been decimated they’d lost all ability to make supply runs to nearby towns. Cat had always kept a rucksack on hand filled with supplies if the worst ever came to pass, but those supplies had run out yesterday.

She had given most of the food and water to Carter, only taken tiny rations for herself, and she’s been feeling the effects all day, her head swimming and her vision occasionally going fuzzy around the edges, and it’s a relief to think that they may be able to spend the night hiding out in a home instead of in the woods.

There are only a handful of houses scattered along the road. Most of them have broken windows, or doors that are hanging off their hinges, and Cat stands in the street and eyes them all critically before choosing the one that looks the most secure.

“Stay here,” she tells Carter, pushing his back against the brick wall beside the front door. “And don’t move. Call if you need help.” He nods, already reaching for the crossbow that he keeps strapped to his back, never too far from his hand.

It sickens Cat, sometimes, that he knows how to use a weapon like that.

That he has had to _learn_ how to use it, just to stay alive.

She hates the fact that he _has_ used it, that they have been in situations so dire that she alone hasn’t been enough to protect him, that he has been forced to kill, even though the walkers hardly counted as a living thing.

Cat settles her favoured weapon into her hand – a machete the length of her forearm – and shoulders open the door, pausing in the doorway to let her eyes adjust to the dimmer lighting inside the house.

She listens for several long moments for sounds of movement and, hearing none, she steps forward, well-practised in the art of walking without making a sound.

She checks each and every single room downstairs and, finding them all empty, proceeds up the staircase, adrenaline making her heart pound quickly in her chest.

The house is walker-free, and Cat relaxes slightly as she pads back down the stairs, calling Carter inside. They lock the door behind them, and Carter goes in search of something to barricade it and the back door with as Cat heads to the kitchen, riffling through the cupboards to see if the house’s occupants left any food behind when they left in an obvious hurry.

The cupboards aren’t bereft, with a few cans that had lasted the past few months dotted across them, but they’re sparser than Cat would have liked, considering it’s been two days since she last ate what could be counted as a proper meal.

“I’m going to check out the other houses,” she decides, calling out to Carter who’s already propped a chair up against the closed door. “See if I can find any more food.”

“Want me to come with you?” He worries, when they’re apart – he’d always been anxious, shy and quiet, though less so around her than with strangers. When the world as they knew it had ended, that anxiety had only gotten worse, and in the early days, he’d been prone to panic attacks if Cat had been gone even a moment longer than she said she would.

“No, stay here, where we know it’s safe.” He nods, and Cat reaches for her knife once more as she prepares to duck out of the back door and into the yard beyond. “I won’t be far.”

“Be careful.”

“I always am, sweetheart.” She has to be, because she knows if she isn’t, if anything happens to her, then that will be the end of Carter, too. He’s good at surviving, but Cat knows he wouldn’t thrive if he were on his own, if he lost his mother.

Sometimes, that is all that keeps her going.

In the dark of the night where she is on a knife-edge of fear, watching over her sleeping son with wild, tired eyes and jumping at every noise that echoes around them, terrified that they are about to be set upon by a herd of the undead, sometimes Cat wonders what the point of it all is.

Why they keep going, when surely, there can be nothing on the other side.

But she can’t imagine a world where her son doesn’t exist, so she continues to put one foot in-front of the other, she continues to _live_ , because if there is a future, if there _can_ be, then it’s one she wants him to see.

She wants him to know a world that is more than constant terror, constant loss, a world where it is guaranteed that they will both be breathing come the light of morning.

Cat takes her rucksack with her, hoisting it up on her shoulders as she edges her way to the house next door. A quick glance through the windows appears to indicate that there are no walkers within, but Cat had long ago learned that nothing is certain in this world, and is still careful, wary and near-silent when she steps inside and searches each room.

There isn’t much in the kitchen, and that pattern is much the same for the other houses she searches. There are a few things – a few more cans, and she finds some rope and matches and two precious bottles of unopened water – but she still feels dejected as she makes her way towards the last of the houses on the street.

A cursory glance through the windows suggest that it is empty, but when Cat steps through the door, machete held tightly in her hand, she freezes when she hears movement from behind her, a body appearing at her back and a knife pressing against her throat.

“Drop the weapon.” The voice is soft, low in her ear and distinctly feminine, and Cat is quick to comply, fingers opening and the machete clattering to the floor.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” Cat murmurs, holding her palms up in-front of her. “I was just looking for supplies, I didn’t realise anyone was in here. I’m not interested in hurting you. Just in getting back to my son.” She knows it’s a risk, revealing that, but despite the blade pressing into the soft skin of her neck, Cat doesn’t really think that this stranger is particularly interested in hurting her.

“You have a son?” She loosens her grip on the knife, just slightly, and Cat thinks she’s made the right choice.

“Yes. Carter. He’s fourteen, and if anything happens to me… he won’t survive.” There’s a tense few moments where Cat doesn’t draw a single breath, and then the woman pulls the knife away and takes a step back.

Cat turns and feels her eyes widen when she takes in the sight of her, because she doesn’t think she’s seen such beauty since the start of the end of the world.

Her blonde hair is streaked with dirt, and her once-white shirt is now closer to grey, her black jeans ripped and dirty, showing the signs of so many months living on the run.

But her eyes, where many others (Cat’s included), have dimmed since this thing began, are bright, their colour reminding Cat of the ocean that she hasn’t laid eyes on in a long, long time.

She can’t be older than twenty-five, and Cat marvels that she has managed to survive for so long alone – though as she tosses her knife from one hand to the other, thoughtful look on her face as she glances at Cat with those dazzling eyes, the muscles in her arms tensing, Cat thinks maybe it isn’t such a marvel, after all.

“Sorry,” the woman offers, with a small shrug as she notices Cat eyeing the knife warily, “about attacking you. It’s just been awhile since I ran into someone friendly.”

“I get it,” Cat replies, even though her throat feels a little tender. “I don’t imagine it’s safe for a pretty young thing like you out there right now.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I don’t doubt that.” The woman grins, and Cat sucks in a quiet breath at the way it lights up her whole face. “I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

“No harm done.”

“I’ll just…” Cat trails off, and gestures to the doorway behind the woman. “Get back to my son.”

“Or… well, um, you could stay here, if you wanted. Both of you.” She looks a little nervous, staring at her knife instead of at Cat. “I have food, and the water’s not hot but it’s clean.”

“Why?” It’s rare that kindness is offered so freely in this new world, and there is almost always a catch.

She has learned that the hard way.

“Like I said, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen a friendly face.” She leans against the open doorway, still eyeing Cat thoughtfully. “I… I used to travel with a group. There were six of us, but a few weeks ago… we were attacked by a group of walkers. In the chaos we were all separated. I don’t even know if they’re still alive, if my _sister’s_ still alive.” There’s agony in her eyes, and Cat’s heart aches for this stranger that she doesn’t know the first thing about. “It’s been kind of lonely since,” she shrugs, blinking away tears that glitter in her eyes. “I figure the company might be nice. Plus, there’s safety in numbers, and all that.” Cat bites at her bottom lip, considering the offer. “I get it if not. You have to think of your son, after all. And you don’t know me. I could be a serial killer.”

“We’re all killers, in one way or another, in this day and age,” Cat murmurs, and the woman looks sombre as she nods in agreement. “I… It’s tempting. Things have been lonely for us, too. We lost our camp five days ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“And I’m sorry about your sister, and your friends. I hope you find your way back to one another soon.”

“Thank you,” she says softly, and Cat wishes she could stop _staring_ at her, but she finds it impossibly difficult to tear her gaze away.

“I’ll go and ask my son what he thinks,” Cat decides, and the woman nods. “Try not to jump me with a knife if we come back?”

“I make no promises,” she replies, with a grin that makes Cat’s heart race. “Do I get to know your name?”

“Cat.”

“Kara.” Cat thinks the name suits her, commits it to memory as she stoops to pick up her abandoned machete and makes her way back outside.

The sun is beginning to set, which means the most dangerous part of the day is almost upon them, and Cat moves quickly as she heads towards the house where she’d left Carter.

He eyes her sceptically when Cat tells him about the mysterious woman in the house four doors down, but she knows he trusts her judgement and will go along with her if she chooses to go back. Kara had made a compelling argument – it _would_ be nice to have another adult around, and another set of hands if they ever ran into any trouble.

It doesn’t mean she has to trust her, and trust is not something that Cat does easily in this new world.

Eventually the lure of food and clean water is what makes her mind up (and a part of her is intrigued by the young blonde in that house), and she packs up the little that they’ve been able to find and Cat leads Carter to where she’d found Kara.

“See? No knife this time,” Kara says around a grin as she closes the door behind them, barricading it carefully shut. Cat watches as Carter assesses Kara carefully, crossbow held tightly in his hand. “You know how to use that thing?” Kara asks, whistling when he nods. “Wow. Impressive.”

“I do okay,” he shrugs, and Cat stares at the back of his head because he very rarely interacts with strangers. “I’ll show you _how_ okay if you ever try anything with me and my Mom.” Kara arches an eyebrow, and Cat holds her breath, ready to reprimand him, but Kara only huffs out a quiet laugh and shakes her head.

“I like you, kid. And I promise I have no intention of ‘trying anything’,” she draws air quotes around the words, “with you. Your Mom? Maybe if I’m lucky and she lets me.” She winks and Cat _gapes_. “I’m gonna go and see what we can eat,” Kara continues, chuckling at the look on Cat’s face, pointing her thumb over her shoulder before she turns and pads down the hallway.

Both Cat and Carter stare after her in silence for several long moments, before Carter breaks it with a laugh.

“I like her. And,” he turns to her with a cheeky grin that Cat hasn’t seen for a while, “I know _you_ definitely do.” He follows after Kara, then, leaving Cat gaping after them both.

x-x-x

“You can sleep, you know,” Kara murmurs later that day, after they’ve eaten and cleaned up as best they can with their limited water supply. Cat feels more refreshed than she has done for weeks, curled up on a couch in a stranger’s home, staring at a different stranger in the dark. “I said I’d take the first watch.”

“And I’m sure you understand why I’m a little hesitant about that,” Cat replies quietly, wary of waking the son that sleeps on the mattress they’d dragged downstairs in-between her couch and Kara’s chair, “considering we don’t really know each other.”

“If I wanted to kill you, I could’ve done a hundred times by now,” Kara points out, but Cat merely shrugs.

“Don’t care.”

“Suit yourself.” Kara relaxes back in her chair, knife balanced on the arm of it. Cat squints at her, eyes adjusting to the dark, and Kara’s eyes glow back at her. “So, where are you from, Cat?”

“We’re making small-talk now?” Cat asks, quirking an eyebrow though she doubts Kara can see it in this light.

“Well, why not?” Kara’s shoulders lift in a shrug. “You’re the one complaining that we barely know each other. And it’ll keep us awake.”

“Very well. National City.”

“Oh yeah? That’s where my sister worked. She was a scientist.”

“I was a CEO,” Cat murmurs, feeling a flash of longing for her old life, for the life she’d so painstakingly built for herself. “I built my company from the ground up, built myself a media empire, and then… then the dead started to rise and I lost it all.”

“You’re Cat Grant,” Kara murmurs, and Cat eyes her more sharply. “I can’t believe I didn’t realise sooner.”

“I don’t exactly look as put-together as I used to,” she says dryly, because she spends ninety percent of her time now covered in sweat and dirt and grime, devoid of the make-up she’d used to wear like a mask, her hair curling, unkempt and longer than she’d ever let it get before this had all began.

“I don’t know,” Kara replies, and her teeth glitter in the darkness when she grins, “you’re still pretty hot.”

“Now I know you’re a liar.”

“Believe what you want,” Kara shrugs. “I used to be a fan of yours. I read all your articles. If my life had gone a different way I think I might have wanted to be a journalist, too.”

“And way did your life go?”

“I was an artist,” she says quietly, and there’s a sad look on her face and Cat knows in that moment that she is not the only one of them who had lost more than just a job, but a livelihood, as well. “I was close to getting my big break and then…”

“All hell broke loose.”

“I was visiting my sister when it happened,” Kara murmurs, staring down at her hands, knotted in her lap. “If I hadn’t been… I would’ve been in Metropolis when it hit, and I never… I never would have seen her again. And now I might never see her again anyway.” She closes her eyes, takes a deep, shaking breath, and Cat finds herself wanting to comfort her. “One second she was right behind me, and the next, she was gone. If I’d just been a little quicker, if I’d - ”

“It’s pointless torturing yourself,” Cat tells her softly, because she’s done the same a hundred times. “It won’t bring her back. And it’s not your fault.”

“It didn’t happen all that far from here. When I stumbled across these houses, I thought I’d set up camp and pray that, if they were still alive, they’d find me. That was twelve days ago.”

“I’m so sorry, Kara.” She glances down at Carter, his eyes closed and his face relaxed in sleep. He looks so peaceful, so _young_ , and her heart breaks all over again for the things that he has seen, is glad that tonight, at least, his dreams do not seem to be haunted by nightmares. “I don’t know what I’d ever do if I lost him.”

She’s quiet, as she voices her biggest fear, and she can feel Kara’s gaze burning into the side of her head.

She jumps when she hears rustling, the sound of movement, glances up to see Kara rising from her chair, and Cat’s heart thuds loud in her chest as the younger woman settles down beside her on the couch and takes her hand.

“We’re going to make sure that you never have to,” Kara promises her, voice low and fierce, and Cat can see a protectiveness shining in her eyes, a determination that neither Cat nor Carter will lose their family like she has lost hers.

Kara’s hand is warm and calloused in her own, and Cat stares down as she squeezes Cat’s hand gently.

It’s the first time she’s been touched just for the sake of it in a long, long time, and her skin tingles, heat flooding through her and her heart pounding in her chest.

“Thank you,” she whispers, and Kara’s soft smile makes her stomach flip.

She and Kara talk for a little while longer about inconsequential things, their hands intertwined on Cat’s thigh.

Soon, her eyes start to feel heavy, and Kara smiles like she can tell, brushes a kiss that’s so feather-light that Cat wonders if she imagines it against her forehead, before returning to her own chair, eyes watchful as she settles in for the night.

Cat watches her until her eyes can’t stay open for any longer, and Kara watches her right back, eyes soft and bright.

Cat wonders what it means, that she has stumbled upon someone who offers her solace unlike that she has ever felt before, in a world that is so harsh and desolate.

She wonders if it’s possible to find love in a world like this; if it possible to keep it.

She wonders if there is enough room in her heart for her to fear losing someone else like she does Carter.

She wonders if she’s being stupid for even considering any of this for a woman she barely knows – wonders if she’s stupid to even have faith in her, to trust her, in the first place.

But she lets her eyes slip closed anyway, because there’s something about Kara that makes her want to believe.

x-x-x

Kara proves her worth, proves that Cat is right to put her faith in her, just five days later.

The three of them have taken to scouting the area surrounding the house they’re using as their temporary base in the day. Every time, they go a little farther, the sun high in the sky and beating fiercely down on their backs as they try and find somewhere to move onto when the supplies in the village run low.

They are always careful, a weapon held tightly in each of their hands.

They see walkers, sometimes, but usually just a single one, and they are always quick to back quietly away and turn in another direction, never risking the raucous nature of a fight.

Until the fifth day.

They’re walking through the woods that the house backs onto, trying to determine what lies on the other side. The three of them always fan out, a few metres between them but always within sight, and on that day they reach the end of the tree line, and step out as one into the space beyond.

It was farmland, once upon a time – but now it is overrun by walkers, and Carter makes the mistake of stepping on the fallen branch of a tree, and it snaps.

Loudly.

In that moment, with Carter’s eyes widening in horror, and Kara’s face draining of blood until she is deathly pale, as a dozen heads turn towards them before the herd of walkers is on the move, Cat doesn’t think she’s ever been so afraid in her entire life.

“Run,” Kara hisses, and Cat reaches for Carter’s arm, nails digging into his skin as she drags him away, Kara a mere step behind them.

They crash through the undergrowth, and Cat is terrified that they’re going to attract the attention of more walkers that could be out here, hiding.

They slow, after several tense minutes where the only sound in Cat’s ear is the frantic beat of her heart, and they turn to peer back into the trees to see if they’ve lost the crowd that were following them.

Cat doesn’t breathe as they wait, but after several moments of only silence echoing back at them, she lets out a long, relieved breath.

“I think we lost them.”

“Luckily.” Kara raises a shaky hand to her head, running it through her hair. “At least we know what direction _not_ to walk in tomorrow.” Carter chuckles, and Kara squeezes his shoulders as they begin to make their way back towards the house.

The two of them get along fantastically, considering Carter has barely said two words to anyone other than Cat since the outbreak had started, and every time Kara makes him smile Cat feels a flash of gratitude because it’s a sight that she’s rarely lucky enough to see, these days.

And Kara makes her smile, too.

More than she can remember doing in a long, long time.

She’s young and in some ways she’s naïve and she’s the complete opposite of Cat in almost every way, but every time their eyes meet Cat feels her heart begin to race.

They talk a lot, because there isn’t much else to do, and even though it’s only been six days Cat feels almost like she’s known Kara her entire life.

Can scarcely imagine Kara not being in it.

She nearly has to _live_ that life when a walker lurches in-front of them when they’re nearly back at the house.

Because it lunges for Carter, and Cat’s heart constricts in fear as she scrambles to reach for him, but he’s too far away and he’s too surprised to be able to fire his crossbow in time and Cat thinks that this is it, she’s going to watch her son die before her eyes and she’s not going to be quick enough to do a thing to stop it.

But then Kara flings herself in-front of Carter and Cat nearly screams as she goes down with the walker on-top of her, and for a few terrifying moments she thinks that it’s gotten her, that their carelessness is going to get Kara killed, before there’s the sound of a knife sliding into decaying flesh and the walker goes still.

“A little help here, guys?” Kara’s voice, muffled, comes from underneath it, and Cat rushes over to her, wincing as she reaches for the shoulders of the walker and rolls it to one side.

Beneath it, Kara lies, gasping for breath and staring up at the sky.    

“Did it get you?” Cat asks, voice panicked as she scans her eyes across Kara’s body, searching for signs of bites or scratches but unable to see a single one.

“Nope, I’m good. I think.” Cat stretches her hand towards the other woman and Kara takes it, wincing as she lets Cat pull her to her feet, dusting off her dirtied clothes.

She doesn’t let go of Cat’s hand.

Instead, she tangles their fingers together and Cat squeezes gently, because she doesn’t think she’s ever been so grateful for another person before in her life.

“T-thank you,” Carter whispers, face pale as he stares up at Kara with something like wonder, and she shrugs and ruffles her free hand through the unruly mop of curls on-top of his head.

“No problem, kid. Now, what do you say we get back to the house? I think I’ve had enough surprises for one day.” Cat more than agrees with that, and lets Kara tug her along, Carter pressed close to her other side.

Her heartbeat doesn’t slow until they’re safely back inside the house, with the door barricaded behind them.

“I’m gonna go and get cleaned up,” Kara murmurs as she glances down at herself, nose wrinkled in distaste as she takes note of the mud and congealed blood from the walker staining her clothes. “Be right back.”

She disappears down the hall, and Cat reaches out and pulls Carter into a fierce hug, blinking to stop any tears from falling as she holds him close, because this is the closest call they’ve had in a long while and she’s so relieved that he’s still here with her.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“Yeah, Mom. I’m okay. Thanks to Kara.” He hugs her back just as tight, before he squirms away. “I think I’m gonna take a nap,” he announces, glancing towards the living room that has become their makeshift bedroom.

“It’s the middle of the day,” Cat points out, eyes narrowing when he shoots her a serene smile back.

“Yeah,” he agrees, smile turning into a cheeky grin, “but I’m pretty sure you’re about to go and thank Kara for saving my life and I’m not sure I wanna be awake for that.”

“Carter!”

“Come on, Mom. She likes you, and I know you like her, too. So go and tell her that. Life’s too short right now to try and fight it.” She stares down at him, so young and so wise, and he grins back at her before pulling her into another hug. “You deserve a little happiness, Mom. We all do.”

He leaves her, then, wandering into the living room, humming under his breath, and Cat shakes her head wryly as she watches him go before she goes in search of Kara.

She finds her in the kitchen, washing her shirt in the sink, and Cat can’t help but stand and stare because Kara in just a bra and jeans is _not_ a sight she was prepared for (and it’s not a sight she’s going to be forgetting anytime soon, either).

“Gonna stand there all day?” Kara calls, and when she turns there’s a smirk on her mouth as she folds her arms across her chest and leans back against the sink, and Cat’s breath catches at the sight of her, has to fight not to let her gaze wander across the endless expanse of smooth, toned skin.

“Just enjoying the view.” Kara grins, and Cat steps into the room, leans against the counter opposite her. “I… thank you. For what you did back there. You didn’t have to.”

“I told you, Cat.” It always does a funny thing to her, when Kara says her name. “I’m not gonna let you lose him.”

“But… why?” It’s something she’s been wondering ever since that first night, why a stranger would lay down her life for someone she doesn’t know. “You could have died today, but you didn’t even hesitate to save him.”

“I… I lost my parents when I was young,” Kara admits, staring down at the floor. “They died in a car crash when I was twelve.”

“Oh, Kara, I’m so sorry.” Cat can tell from the lost look in her eyes and the way her mouth twists around the words that it is still painful for her to talk about, even so many years later.

“It’s okay,” Kara shrugs. “We’ve all had our taste of loss in this world.” Cat knows all too well how true that is. “I… sometimes I’m glad. That they weren’t around to see this happen.” She sighs before glancing up, meeting Cat’s gaze. “But I know what it feels like, to lose a parent. And I can only imagine that it’ll be a thousand times worse to lose a son. And if I can stop you from having to feel that kind of pain… then I will.”

“Even if it means risking your life?”

“It’s not like I have all that much to live for,” Kara says softly, voice laced with pain. “My foster Mom, my sister, my friends… they’re all gone.”

“You don’t know that,” Cat replies, and Kara still looks so dejected that she can’t help but step closer – she hears Kara’s breath catch as Cat shifts into her personal space, settling one hand on the counter on either side of Kara’s hips, heart thundering in her ears. “And if, God forbid, they are gone… you have me, and you have Carter.” Cat’s voice turns small, because even though everything feels like it moves faster in this world, even though it feels like an age since they first met, she knows that she and Kara still have a lot to learn about one another, and she’s never been very good at being vulnerable in-front of anyone, let alone a woman she barely really knows. “I… I would hope that the two of us might be enough reason for you.”

“Cat…” She glances up at Kara, through her lashes, and finds her staring down at her, blue eyes wide and filled with something that looks a lot like wonder.

“Don’t be reckless,” Cat breathes, eyes fluttering closed when Kara reaches up to cup her cheek with one of her hands. “Because I don’t think I can lose you, either.”

Cat trembles when Kara’s hand slides into her hair and she kisses her.

It’s chaste and brief but it sets her ablaze, because she can’t even remember the last time someone kissed her, let alone so tenderly, like she was meant to be savoured, holding her like she was something precious.

“I’ll try,” Kara promises, a whisper against her lips, and for now, that is enough. Cat leans up on her toes and kisses Kara again, her hands settling on her hips, and they both shiver at the feeling of Cat’s fingertips against her bare skin, as Kara’s tongue slips past her lips and teases against her own.

This world is desperate and desolate and unforgiving, and Cat had lost faith and hope that anything would ever be okay again a long, long time ago.

But with Kara’s lips against hers and her skin hot beneath her hands, with the soft sound of Kara’s moan echoing in her ears as Cat inches her hand up and over her ribs to cup one of her breasts, Cat thinks that maybe some of her faith can be restored.

Maybe she can have this one little piece of happiness; maybe it is possible for there to still be some good left in the world.

She decides, as Kara pushes her gently back against the countertop and slips her hands beneath Cat’s shirt to map the soft skin beneath, that it _is_ possible to find love in this world; she just hopes that her luck holds out long enough for her to keep it.


End file.
